Veterans! Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

We encourage you to browse our list so that you can take what you want and keep what you need

 
1.   Medal of Honor recipient Petry honored with statue in hometown.  After parachuting onto the field next to the Fort Marcy Recreation Complex on Monday morning, Sgt. First Class Leroy Petry said there’s no better way to see the American flag flying in the wind than to watch one floating to earth while attached to a parachutist.
 
2.   New Wyoming law to recognize veterans on driver’s licenses.  Beginning Monday, The Wyoming Department of Transportation will start issuing driver’s licenses and identification cards with a special designation for honorably discharged veterans.
 
3.   DAV’s mobile service speeds up benefits.  The Disabled American Veterans mobile service unit came to Springfield, Ohio, on Monday for the first time to assist veterans with benefits claims, and many of them came hoping to speed up the application process.
 
4.   Troops nearing retirement can’t transfer GI Bill benefits without giving 4 more years.  Beginning Aug. 1, all active-duty military personnel who opt to transfer their Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits to a family member will be obligated to four more years of service, including troops who are eligible for retirement.
 
5.   Worth the wait.  Hyperlink to Story Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: I was incensed by the letter “The VA Is Failing the Nation’s Veterans” (June 9) by U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus. I have only the most sincere appreciation for the Veterans Administration.
6.   VA Says Catching Up on Disability Claims.  Hyperlink to Story About.com:  Since starting its  “push,” the VA reports it has finished processing 97% of the benefit claims over two years old and will now focus its efforts on completing the benefit claims of veterans who have been waiting over one year for a decision.
7.   Military sharpens new tools to deal with brain injuries.  Hyperlink to Story USA Today: A study of more than 900 veterans treated at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in Palo Alto, Calif., from 2009 to 2011 found differences between women and men who suffered traumatic brain injury. Scientists have no explanation for the differences.
8.   Defining The Deep Pain PTSD Doesn’t Capture.  Hyperlink to Story WBUR:  Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ clinic in Boston, coined the phrase moral injury in the mid-1990s. He was looking for a way to describe damage to a veteran’s spirit or soul that PTSD didn’t capture.

9.   Veterans’ Uphill Road Back, Struggle With Suicide.  Hyperlink to Story ABC News (AP):  The treatment was helpful but his feelings about the VA are “really mixed. My take is they are a bunch of really well-meaning people. I don’t know that it’s resourced for the tasks.” Also huge numbers of veterans — a tiny portion of the larger population — live in small towns, far from the cities where veteran services are available.
10.  Study: Brains of Gulf War illness vets look different.  Hyperlink to Story Army Times:  Brain scans of veterans with symptoms of Gulf War illness show neurological differences between those who deployed to the region in 1990 and 1991 and a control group — a finding researchers say could explain some of the condition’s symptoms, such as chronic pain and extreme fatigue.

 

Have You Heard?

 
Summer is the peak season for lightning-related deaths and injuries, though people are struck by lightning year-round.
The National Weather Service provides a wide range of information about lightning, including these facts and tips:
General Tips

• No outdoor area is safe when you hear thunder.
• If you hear thunder, find a safe indoor shelter (a substantial building or enclosed, metal-topped vehicle with the windows up).

Indoor Safety Tips

• Stay off corded phones, computers, and other electrical equipment.
• Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths, and faucets.
• Stay away from porches, windows, and doors.
• Never lie on concrete floors or lean against concrete walls.

Outdoor Safety Tips
No outdoor area is safe during a thunderstorm, but if you’re caught outside with no safe shelter options, take these steps to reduce your risk of being struck by lightning:

• Come down from elevated areas.
• Never lie flat on the ground.
• Never shelter under an isolated tree.
• Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter.
• Immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water.
• Stay away from objects that conduct electricity, such as wire fences.

Read some interesting myths and facts about lightning.